Insider Report: Rally driver overshoots corner, then stuffs it

They call it the Red Mist. In the heat of competition, the adrenaline takes over and sometimes makes drivers do things they wouldn’t normally do. You could say their judgement is clouded by their desire to go faster. It is said that the same happens to fighter pilots in battle, which would make sense.

The guy behind the wheel of the Mitsubishi rally car below is clearly blinded by the Red Mist. First, he overcooks a corner. That wouldn’t be too big a deal, as there was lots of room for him to turn around, but it became a problem when he became a little too exuberant in his efforts to get back on course.

The Real Thing

Lots of guys build hot rods, but it takes someone with a real vision to be considered one of the stand outs. Bodie Stroud is one of the guys who stands out. Stroud and his team recently built his vision of a ’69 Ford Mustang, which they called The Real Thing. Inspired by a funny car, the car’s roofline was chopped, along with other more subtle changes, but the heart of the beast, what makes it real, lies beneath the hood. One of just ten engines built for Mario Andretti‘s Can-Am car in 1969, the all aluminum 494 CI V8 was dyno’d at 777 horsepower.

The folks at Union HZ followed the build, right up to the car’s unveiling at this year’s SEMA show, where it was met and signed by Mario Andretti himself. This Boss is indeed The Real Thing.

As sort of a follow up to my mention of slot car racing yesterday, I just came across this super cool video from a super cool craft company called Cutout n Keep. The company’s tagline is “Because Scissors Paper Rock”. So what do these cats do? Well, they make cut-out paper buses. Not only would they make an awesome stocking stuffer, but they also fit perfectly over a slot car!

I’ve been pretty lucky to have crossed a couple of trips off my bucket list this year, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be a little bit jealous that my friendsLiz & Jim Leggett took their lenses to Bonneville this year! They have compiled a bunch of their footage into a nine-minute video that includes sights and sounds and nothing more. Go full screen and turn up the speakers and it feels just like you are standing at the starting line.

At the 43-second mark, what might be the nastiest sounding Beetle ever built fires up and it is simply spectacular!

PSYCHOMANIA Movie Trailer

Anyone who thinks the rise in popularity of zombies has something to do with The Walking Dead TV series needs to look a bit farther back. Zombies have been around for hundreds of years. They even starred as motorcycle riding trouble makers in the 1973 B-movie PSYCHOMANIA.

The trailer for this dreadful flick appeared on my Facebook wall via hot rodder Stony Smith. Thanks for the tip Stony, but as much as I LOVE the trailer, I don’t know if I could sit through all 85 minutes of that acting!